Well-known examples of citrus fruit are oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit. Citrus fruit is eaten fresh, pressed for juice, or preserved in marmalades, for example. The present invention provides solutions in the field of pressing juice from citrus fruit. Various types of citrus fruit pressing devices are known, wherein the devices range from hand-operated devices comprising a convex pressing surface surrounded by a channel for receiving juice from pre-cut halve pieces of citrus fruit to fully automated devices which are adapted to extract juice from citrus fruit without human intervention.
Pressing citrus fruit by hand is a rather bothersome job. An additional disadvantage of the process is that it is practically impossible for a user of the hand-operated device to keep his/her hands clean. Also, the device which is used in the process is quite difficult to clean, particularly a ring-shaped sieve which is part of the device and which is used for covering the channel and receiving pulp. It is a fact that juice from citrus fruits, especially orange juice, is very much appreciated by consumers. Orange juice has a sweet taste and is known for being healthy, containing a considerable quantity of vitamin C. However, due to the disadvantages as mentioned, people often decide to refrain from making the juice when they actually would like to do so, especially when there is not too much time, which may be the case at breakfast time in the morning during working days, for example.
In order to facilitate the task of pressing halve pieces of citrus fruit on the pressing surface, semi-automated citrus fruit pressing devices have been developed. In such devices, an element comprising the pressing surface is automatically rotated when a user presses down a halve piece of citrus fruit on the element. As a result, making juice from citrus fruit requires less effort from a user, but a user is still compelled to perform various actions, including extensive cleaning actions after use of a semi-automated device.
Fully automated devices are adapted to process whole pieces of citrus fruit. In particular, the devices are adapted to cut the pieces of citrus fruit in half, press the halve pieces of citrus fruit against a pressing surface, collect the juice which is obtained in this way, and discharge the juice to a receptacle such as a glass. Fully automated devices are very easy to use, but they are not suitable for domestic use due to their large size. Also, the devices comprise a lot of parts and require a lot of work when it comes to cleaning. An example of fully automated devices is found in GB 2 216 784 A.
A device which is adapted to perform an automatic pressing action on citrus fruit and which can be small enough for being used in a normal kitchen is known from WO 2012107771 A1. Among other things, the known device comprises a press means, an infeed means, a waste receptacle and a motor. The press means includes two portions, namely a ram portion and an extracting portion located a spaced distance apart from each other inside a housing of the device. The ram portion and the extracting portion are located along the same axis, so that pressing one or more articles inside the device can be realized by positioning the articles between the ram portion and the extracting portion and moving the ram portion towards the extracting portion.
The movement of the ram portion is driven by the electric motor which is also located inside the housing. The extracting portion includes a blade means for cutting the article to provide an outlet for the juice and a channel to transport the juice away from the pressed article. The force of the press means typically expels the juice from the article. A number of blade means may be provided in order to have a number of channels.
Pressing whole pieces of citrus fruit in a relatively small device would not be so much of a challenge if it was not for the fact that the peel of the citrus fruit contains oil which should not be mixed with the juice, as the oil ruins the sweet taste of the juice. Although the device known from WO 2012107771 A1 appears to function in practice, it has been found that oil is often released from the peel in such quantity that the taste of the juice is not acceptable. A reason for this effect is found in the fact that at a certain stage of a pressing action, the peel which is punctured by the blade means rips at various places close to the blade means, due to the deformation of the piece of citrus fruit and the forces acting on the peel, as a result of which oil is released, which mixes with the juice and is discharged through the blade means along with the juice.